So I’ve been dabbling with the guitar for a few years, nothing serious, just a hobby. I only play instrumentals because, well, I can’t carry a tune in a basket. Seriously. I sing, dogs heads explode. Anyway, a friend of my housemate came round this evening and we got chatting and he mentioned that he’s in a band that plays some local bars. He played a couple of his songs and I was pretty impressed. They’re very cool. They’ve got kind of a bluesy feel and the guy sings a bit like Joe Cocker. Anyway, at his insistence I played my favourite song, which is Ocean by the legendary John Butler. The song is intended for a 12 string. I’ve only got a 6 strong, but it translates pretty well, IMO. Anyway, the guy liked it so much that he’s offered me a supporting slot at his next gig this Friday. I’m not being paid, but I don’t care. This will be the first time I’ll have ever played in front of an audience.
Anyway, I was really flattered at first, but now I’m pretty scared. I reckon stage fright might be a problem. By all accounts it’ll probably be a pretty large crowd (about 100 people, he said). I’m only planning on playing that one song (indeed, I only know a couple of others) but still, I’m quite nervous about it. Have any resident doper musicians got any tips on how to handle playing live the first time?
Practice the songs until you can play them in your sleep (should be easy for since it’s only one song." Basically you want to get that muscle memory to where your hands can play by themselves and you don’t need your brain.
Here’s a tip to help you mentally while you’re playing. Don’t look at the faces of the crowd (which might be difficult anyway, depending on the lights). Look over their heads to the wall at the back of the room. You’ll look like you’re looking out at them, but you won’t really be seeing them.
Once you start playing, auto-pilot generally takes over and you’re ok. If you mess up, don’t stop, just keep going. Chances are nobody outside the band is going to notice anyway.
I think this is the most important one, and everyone starting out should hear it. Don’t ever stop. The audience, 99% of the time, isn’t going to be able to tell you’ve screwed up - until you stop in the middle of a song.
Also, once you’ve got your part committed to muscle memory, a beer or 2 can help take the fear away without your having to worry about being too impeded to play.
Keep it at a beer or two, though. Drinking can start to have diminishing returns if you overdo it. I know that from hard experience. It’s good to take the edge off, but don’t get soused until after the gig.
My one guitar gig (I’ve done hundreds as a drummer/percussionist/bassist) I played a song I wrote at a friend’s wedding. Just me and the guitar and my song, big moment, don’t screw it up! I had the song down cold, looked out over the tops of everybody’s head, no problem, then for some reason I made eye contact with someone. I liken the effect in my mind to what happens starting at about :55 in this video. It actually wasn’t that bad but there was a moment of panic there. I got back on track and came through it fine. The whole episode probably lasted a second.
One thing you don’t want to do is keep everybody waiting while you sort out some technical glitch, so have things as ready as possible before going up on stage. I don’t know how possible it will be to run through your song during a sound check but that will help you know what it’s going to sound like on stage. It will probably be a lot different than what you’re used to.
One thing that can screw you like nothing else is not having a good stage monitor. If you can’t hear yourself, it’s hard as shit to play. But hopefully you should be able to take care of that at sound check. That’s only been a problem for me at shows that were multiple band cattle calls sharing the same monitors (My band got totally boned at a Battle of the Bands once. I couldn’t hear anything through the stage monitpors but the snare drum. We still managed to somehow come in third, though. That’s where the practicing until you can play a song comatose comes in handy).
Take your time. Being nervous makes you play like you’re on speed, in my experience. If you feel like you’re playing too slowly it’s probably just right. That is if you’re playing solo; if there’s a drummer obviously you have someone keeping time for you.
If you have a drummer, it’s a really good idea to focus on the bass drum to keep yourself in time. Blut is right, being nervous can make you really rush your tempo.
Dude you can do a respectable cover of Ocean? I’ve got a standing bet with a mate for a$1,000 if I can do a decent job of it - he’s not likely to lose his money in the foreseeable future.
I remember when my conducting instructor told me to get up in front of his orchestra. I was totally taken off guard, and I was so nervous that I was shaking. Seriosly, they were laughing. But my arms and hands had practiced to the record so much that they really couldn’t screw it up. They were so trained to the music that it didn’t matter that my mind and legs betrayed me. My arms just did the right thing.
Tip #2 was useless, as I had to look them in the eyes, and it made me more nervous. At least there was no audience!
Trust your preparation. This is easier to do when you’re more used to playing in public, but even now - go back in your mind over everything you have done while learning your piece(s). Every time you sat and worked through that shift, that barre, that gliss, you were preparing to play in this situation, you just didn’t know it at the time. Think of the Karate Kid - wax on, wax off - and you’re on your way.
If you get a chance between now and Friday, play for some of your friends, co-workers, whatever, just to get yourself used to that little wave of adrenaline…
Practice is really the key. The old joke is right -How do you get to carnagie Hall? Practice. practice practice. It might sound trite but there’s a reason it’s trite. Muscular memory is real. I’m surprised sometimes at the way my fingers can remember how to play pieces that I haven’t played in years and wouldn’t be able to notate anymore for the life of me.
I once had a bass player/manager who used to run the band like military drills - forcing us to play songs over and over and over until they we almost literally could play them in our sleep. As tedious and boring as it was, it really paid off. It made it nigh on close to impossible for us to fuck up during gigs.
What I came in to post (much different than participating in a competitive sport in front of a crowd, where maybe 1/2 want to see you screw up).
With regard to the “don’t stop” credo, remember that it’s not practice; practice is everything you’ve done up to now to prepare you for this. Let it flow and don’t dwell on any minor glitches. Like Dio said, very few if any will catch them, and if they do, they won’t tell you about it anyway :D.
In addition to the rest of the good advice others have offered…
The “don’t stop if you mess up” one is important. Also, don’t let your audience SEE that you’ve messed up. If you flub a note here and there, don’t wince or make a face. Just continue playing like you meant to do that, and it’s likely the audience won’t even notice. And yes, practice, practice, practice.